Special Event with The Atlantic

Cancel Culture vs. Consequence Culture

Join us for a thought-provoking public discussion on Cancel Culture vs. Consequence Culture, exploring how accountability, forgiveness, and social justice intersect in today’s public sphere, both online and in public forums, from both the left and the right. Writers from the Atlantic address the ways democratic polities are attempting to balance freedom of expression with the need for responsible action and empathy.

This event is part of a weeklong series hosted by the American Academy in Berlin and The Atlantic featuring public conversations, private roundtables, and high-level dialogues across Berlin and Munich. Bringing together leading journalists, thinkers, and policymakers from both sides of the Atlantic, this festival will explore urgent issues – from the future of democracy and the rise of autocracy to climate, technology, culture, and the shifting global economy. Set in two of Germany’s most influential cities and timed to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the event offers a vital transatlantic forum for reflection, debate, and fresh thinking at a moment of global transformation.

Speakers: Helen Lewis  | Thomas Chatterton Williams | Moderated by Sascha Chaimowicz

Helen Lewis is a staff writer at The Atlantic. She is the author of Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights and the host of the BBC’s long-form interview series, The Spark. Her next book, The Genius Myth,  is scheduled for publication in 2025. At The Atlantic, she writes about  the intersection of politics, society, and digital culture.

Thomas Chatterton Williams is a staff writer at The Atlantic. He is also a visiting professor of humanities at Bard College, a 2022 Guggenheim fellow, and a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author of Self-Portrait in Black and White. Williams’s work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, New Yorker, London Review of Books, Le Monde, and many other places, and has been collected in The Best American Essays and The Best American Travel Writing. His lastest book, Summer of Our Discontent: The Age of Certainty and the Demise of Discourse, was published by Knopf in August 2025.

Sascha Chaimowicz is editor in chief of ZEITmagazin, where he leads both the print and digital teams. His recent essays explore questions of identity, liberalism, and freedom of expression—including a much-discussed piece on being Black and Jewish in Germany after October 7. He regularly moderates public conversations on politics and culture. His series “Wir müssen reden” will soon premiere at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg. He lives in Berlin with his wife and two children.